Of Childhood Traumas and Fire Extinguishers
by DreamingALife
Summary: Wolf tells K-Unit a story from when he was younger.  Alex realises it sounds familiar.


"Who's cooking tonight?"

"Don't look at me, I did it last night."

"You call that cooking?"

"Let's order pizza!"

"No, Eagle. We've had far too many takeaways recently."

"Aw, c'mon Snake, we're on leave!"

"We're still supposed to take care of ourselves properly."

"But one takeaway won't – "

Alex tuned out the bickering and wandered off towards the kitchen. He could probably have a meal ready for all of them before they stopped arguing and realised he'd left the room. As he tugged pots, pans and ingredients out of the cupboards, Alex thought about the past week.

Jack had gone to America for a fortnight to see her family. She had wanted Alex to go with her but it was during term time and he didn't want to miss any more school, so MI6 had sent him to live with Ben Daniels until she got back. Alex didn't really mind this- it was good to see Ben again, he was easy to live with, he understood about Alex's somewhat unusual life and didn't ask too many questions.

Unfortunately, it seemed Ben was part of a package deal.

Every evening that week Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Lynx (the new Fox) had turned up on the doorstep, claiming that they always 'hung out' with Ben whilst on leave. After Alex had recovered from the shock of hearing Wolf talk about hanging out with mates like he was a normal person, he had observed Ben's expression. The look on his face said quite clearly that having the whole of K-Unit draped about his house like large pieces of mismatched furniture was not a regular occurrence, so Alex concluded that they were here because of him.

True to his expectations, they spent most of their time (between bickering like school children) trying to find out more about Alex by using various techniques.

Wolf just bluntly demanded that Alex tell them what they wanted to know.

Eagle asked questions constantly – some intelligent, some not –seemingly in the hope that Alex would eventually spill just to save his sanity.

Snake had an unnerving habit of getting Alex on his own and gently probing for answers in a tone that suggested the teenager was a wild animal that needed to be kept calm.

Lynx would wait until everyone was relaxed and not fully alert before casually dropping a question into the conversation, evidently hoping that Alex would be caught off guard and let something slip.

The spy, however, had neatly dodged around all of their attempts (much to Ben's amusement) and was actually quite enjoying his stay. Although if he found a way to put an end to the ceaseless questioning, he would take it...

* * *

Later that evening the group were sprawled about the living room watching Eagle flick through the TV channels, eventually settling on a film. Alex, recognising it from when Tom had dragged him to the cinema to watch it, raised an eyebrow.

"The Pacifier, Eagle? Really?"

Eagle shrugged. "I like it."

"Probably his dream job." Lynx muttered. "He still gets to act tough and beat people up, but he spends his time with people on the same mental level as him."

"There's nothing wrong with being in touch with your inner child." Eagle retorted as Alex, Ben and Snake snickered.

Wolf, however, shuddered. "Why the hell would he want to work with children?"

At this, a smirk spread across Snake's face. "Of course, I forgot. You had a bad experience with children, didn't you Wolf?"

Eagle stopped sulking and stared at Wolf interestedly. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Wolf mumbled, flushing slightly. "I just did some babysitting when I was a kid."

Alex choked on his drink. "_You_ used to _babysit?_ Seriously?"

"I needed the money!" Wolf protested, turning a darker shade of red. "Anyway, one time I had to look after this little terror and I haven't liked children since."

"Why? What happened?" Alex asked, as the others sniggered at the thought of their formidable team leader being traumatised by a small child.

"He was just...creepy." said Wolf, grimacing at the memory. "He was only about 7 but he acted too mature, and he had this really intimidating stare, and he talked to me like I was an idiot, and he kept muttering in a different language – I swear he was talking about me, and he spent the whole night playing pranks on me, and..."

Wolf trailed off as he realised his entire team was staring at him with expressions of incredulous amusement. "Don't look at me like that, you didn't have to deal with him!"

Eagle, Snake, Ben and Lynx exchanged glances before cracking up. Alex however, stared at Wolf looking contemplative...and ever so slightly mischievous.

"Hey Wolf, can you remember this kid's name?"

Wolf blinked. "No...why?"

Alex glanced at the still giggling soldiers then back at Wolf. "Come into the kitchen. I need to talk to you."

Wolf did so, feeling confused and for some reason a little apprehensive. This feeling grew as Alex turned to look at him with a distinctly impish gleam in his brown eyes. Something stirred in the depths of Wolf's memory but before he could recognise it Alex was speaking.

"So, you know how you lot have spent the entire week trying to find out my life story?" said Alex conversationally. "You're going to stop."

Wolf's jaw dropped slightly. "...What?"

Alex smiled in the way that Wolf had always imagined a crocodile would smile...right before it attacked.

"To put it simply, you are going to stop prying into my life and you're going to order your team to do the same. If you don't I may have to let slip a few more details about your experiences as a babysitter."

Wolf stared blankly, the vague memory making its way slowly towards to forefront of his mind.

Alex, deciding some more encouragement was needed, added; "For example, the incident with the fire extinguisher..."

This triggered a reaction.

"THAT WAS YOU? YOU LITTLE..." Wolf's vocabulary appeared to fail him, and he just stood there turning a rather unattractive shade of red.

Alex smirked and sauntered out of the room with a distinctly gleeful air. It was another ten minutes before Wolf composed himself enough to follow.

* * *

A couple of hours later Alex was sprawled over an armchair smirking at the ceiling, Wolf was slumped on the couch staring darkly at nothing and occasionally muttering under his breath, Ben and Eagle were sitting on the floor arguing about who was cheating in their card game and Snake was watching 'Glee' on the TV with far too much interest.

Lynx decided the time was right.

"So Cub, how do you know Fox's real name?"

Alex shifted to look at him before turning to stare at Wolf expectantly. The burly soldier narrowed his eyes at the teenager, who mouthed the words 'fire extinguisher'. Wolf scowled.

"Uh, yeah, you lot should stop asking Cub personal questions."

There was a stunned silence, broken by Eagle. "Why?"

Wolf shifted uncomfortably. "Because, um, we should...respect his privacy."

As K-Unit converged on their leader with a great deal of concern for his mental state, Alex grinned. He'd stopped the incessant questioning and he had some pretty effective blackmail material to hold over Wolf's head. The remainder of his stay was going to be a lot of fun.


End file.
